Donald Trump given shamrock as Micheál Martin urges co-operation
By Rebecca Black, Press Association in Washington, DC
Donald Trump has been given a crystal bowl of shamrock by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who told the US president he and European leaders could work together to resolve differences in relation to the war with Iran.
It comes amid frictions between European leaders and Trump after he said he expected Europe’s co-operation on a bombing campaign launched with Israel against Iran.
The US president hosted the Taoiseach in the White House on St Patrick’s Day, with the shamrock gifting ceremony acting as the culmination of days of US-Irish engagements organised each year to mark Ireland’s national day.
Martin presented Trump with the shamrock as he called for as “few barriers and tariffs” around trade “as possible”, and said Ireland’s own history should show negotiation, de-escalation and “international rules and order” were essential to peace and security around the world.
An earlier 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office involved Trump responding to Irish president Catherine Connolly’s criticism of US-Israeli attacks on Iran by saying the world “should be thankful” for the intervention.
He also doubled down on his previous criticisms of Nato and accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of making a “big mistake” on Iran.
Martin defended Starmer by telling Trump he “had the capacity” to engage with the British leader and other European leaders.
He said the relationship between Europe and the US is “very, very important”, and previous issues between the EU and the US last year, where the threat of a tariff war loomed for months, had been resolved.
You've got on with other European leaders as well and I think you have that capacity again
“I think we can get landing zone again,” Martin said.
“Keir Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship, I just want to put that on the record.
“But I do believe that he’s a very earnest, sound person (which) you have a capacity to get on with, you’ve got on with him before.
“You’ve got on with other European leaders as well and I think you have that capacity again.”
He said Trump was “doing your bit there in terms of work in Gaza” to find peace in the Middle East, and said that the Irish people had been “peacekeepers all our lives”.
He said: “Ultimately, all conflicts come to an end, and I think we have to try and work towards that end. I’m sure European leaders and the US administration will engage, and hopefully we can get a landing zone.”
Trump responded to say he agreed with Martin but said that as the US had helped Europe fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he thought that Europe would assist the US in relation to Iran.
“It’s very unfair to the United States,” he said.
When asked to respond to comments by President Catherine Connolly – who criticised “deliberate assaults on international law” in the Middle East and “the normalisation of war” – Trump said: “He’s lucky I exist, that’s all I can say. (sic)
“Because if you’re going to allow countries that are sick and demented – and they are demented – to have nuclear weapons, everybody in the whole world should be very thankful.”
He also said that if the US-Israeli attack was not launched on Iran, “you would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond”.
“I think it would have hit Europe, maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe. It all gets you, it’s big enough that you would have been affected.”
Representatives of People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, and the Social Democrats were among opposition politicians criticising Martin for not challenging the US president on the Middle East.
Trump also pledged to Irish people that energy prices would “drop like a rock” when the war ended, and that he would try to visit Ireland in the autumn for the Irish Open, which will be hosted at his hotel and golf course in Doonbeg, Co Clare.
Martin, who spoke only briefly during the White House meeting as the engagement was dominated by questions to the US president in relation to Iran, also urged co-operation between Ireland and the US on immigration.
After Trump said Europe had to “do something on immigration”, Martin later said that “sometimes Europe gets characterised wrongly” for being “overrun” and said there was “much more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration”.
“I’d love if we could develop a legal pathway between the US and Ireland into the future, because of our history,” Martin said of a US-Irish immigration system.
The two leaders then travelled to the US Capitol for a “Friends of Ireland” luncheon, where Trump criticised the “tremendous” trade imbalance between the two countries and implored Martin to purchase American liquefied natural gas.
Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly was among those in attendance.
Earlier, the Taoiseach met US vice president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance at their official residence.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill have boycotted the St Patrick’s Day events in the US over that administration’s policies on Gaza.
On Monday evening, the Taoiseach addressed the prestigious Ireland Funds National Gala dinner in the US capital.
He spent the weekend in Philadelphia where he marked the contribution of Irish people to the building of the country, 250 years on from the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
He also took part in the Pennsylvanian city’s St Patrick’s Day parade.
